THINKWARE U3000 2CH Dash Cam Review

For the past year or so, it has started to feel like I was one of the last people to not have a dash cam in the car. While I don’t typically consider myself a Luddite when it comes to tech—I figured a dash cam was more of a luxury than an actual need.

This past winter, my mind changed when somebody broke into my car overnight in my own driveway. Fortunately, I don’t keep anything of value in my vehicle, but this small invasion was enough to get me to jump on the dash cam bandwagon. Besides, if I ever have to go through the misery of getting in a car accident and dealing with the aftermath, having video evidence that I (hopefully) didn’t do anything wrong could come in very handy.

After reaching out to the folks at THINKWARE, they suggested the U3000 2CH dash cam would suit my needs.

Set Up

Once it arrived at my door, I came to the realization that I needed to install the thing.

To be honest, I was a bit worried about this. I’m not the most mechanically inclined person in the world, and I had it in my head that screwing this up was a likely possibility. But as anybody who has ever installed a dash cam can tell you, it’s not complicated. The only trick is hiding the cables—particularly the cable that connects the rear camera to the front camera.

That cable turned out to be 24.5 feet long. My Hyundai Tucson is a whole lot shorter than that, so I ended up with a LOT of extra cable to tuck away. It took some effort, but I got it all out of the way and out of sight. Once that was taken care of, the rest was simple. THINKWARE includes an OBD II cable, which couldn’t be easier to connect to. Once I plugged it in, everything turned on and started working.

The main camera is quite slick looking in person. It doesn’t have a display screen, so it’s reasonably compact and doesn’t take up much space on the windshield. The rear camera is even smaller and is largely unnoticeable when I look in my rear-view mirror unless I’m actively searching for it.

Features and Tech

This is a premium dash cam, and it comes loaded with all the features you could ask for.

The heart of this unit is a Sony STARVIS 2 image sensor. With 4K recording from the front camera and 2K in the rear, image clarity is sharp and clear. Daytime recording, in particular, looks incredible, and it’s easy to see details like license plate numbers. But it’s the nighttime recording that really surprised me.

THINKWARE utilizes Super Night Vision 4.0, which is designed to capture clearer footage once the sun goes down. Check out the video below to see how clear both daytime and nighttime footage is on the THINKWARE U3000.

Another great feature is Radar Parking Mode. Once you park your car, the U3000 doesn’t stop working. Instead, it relies on low-power front and rear radars to monitor motion around the car. You can use the THINKWARE app to set up how far away you want the radar to trigger the camera to record. Because I live on a busy street with lots of traffic, I set up mine to trigger the recording at about 2 meters from the camera. If somebody (or some thing) comes within that distance, the camera wakes up and records for 20 seconds.

One feature I was not expecting in the U3000 is THINKWARE’s Advanced Driver Assistance System. It offers a warning if a car or person is close by while I’m backing up—my 2018 Tucson doesn’t have any factory-installed driver assistance warnings. If you choose to turn them on, the U3000 makes up for much of what an older vehicle lacks.

Front Vehicle Departure Warning lets you know when the vehicle in front of you starts moving after being at a complete stop. The Forward Collision Warning System is able to monitor the speed and distance of the vehicle in front of you and alerts you when the following distance becomes unsafe. Lane Departure Warning, which is standard on a lot of vehicles now, alerts the driver if you start to drift out of your lane.

The U3000 even offers safety camera alerts that rely on its built-in GPS to track your speed and time data to alert you of upcoming red light and speed cameras.

Multiple Apps

To get the most out of the U3000, you need to download two apps—THINKWARE Dash Cam Link and THINKWARE Connected.

THINKWARE Dash Cam Link lets you adjust camera settings, review footage, and download videos. Pairing the camera to the app is pretty straightforward, and adjusting settings is quick and easy. My only complaint is that I found it a bit slow to view videos on the app. For me, it was much easier to take out the MicroSD card and directly upload footage to my computer.

The THINKWARE Connected app offers its own suite of features. This app allows you to remotely monitor what’s happening around your vehicle, and it will send you impact notifications, even while parked. Better yet, if the vehicle is in a serious impact (stronger than 3G), a push notification will be sent to the app, and it will send an emergency message to your registered contact.

If you are unlucky enough to get in a collision or other accident and can’t reach your phone, you can hold the REC button on the U3000 for three seconds and it will send an emergency message to your registered contact.

Final Thoughts

I’ve been using the THINKWARE U3000 for more than three months now. And while nobody else has tried to break into my car and I’ve avoided any collisions, I’m still happy I have it every day.